THE SENATOR’S SCANDAL :
Behind the closed doors on C Street
The Family — which has counseled Sen. John Ensign — lives and prays as a fundamentalist group with power at the center of its agenda
Sunday, July 19, 2009 | 2 a.m.

The scandal over Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign’s extramarital affair with an employee has renewed interest in a secretive fundamentalist Christian group known as The Family, with whom he lives when in Washington, D.C.

Ensign last month admitted to an affair with Cynthia Hampton, whose husband, Doug Hampton, was a top aide to Ensign and his best friend. After Doug Hampton asked The Family to intervene, members confronted Ensign at the group’s house on C Street in Washington.

On Wednesday, the author of a book about The Family was interviewed on KNPR-FM’s public affairs show “State of Nevada.” Author Jeff Sharlet, a contributing editor to Harper’s and Rolling Stone magazines, lived with The Family in early 2002. His book, “The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power,” was published last year by HarperCollins.

The following is an account of the State of Nevada interview, conducted by host Dave Berns. It has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Dave Berns: Scandals involving John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford placed a spotlight on The Family. The group’s town house in Washington is a former convent with a chapel and, according to federal tax records, is registered as a church. Tenants pay below market rent.

We asked Sharlet which is the bigger story: the sex scandals, or the public conversation about The Family.

Jeff Sharlet: The story begins with these scandals. The question is, do you make the bigger connection? The real issue is not who Ensign or Sanford sleep with, but the organizations with which they pursue their policies and the sources to which they turn for moral and religious authority.

I think that is starting to come out, particularly with Ensign, because we see the role The Family plays in the cover-up. Doug Hampton said The Family had a role in moving money around for the affair, which I think a lot of outsiders look at as hypocritical. Knowing The Family, I understand that that’s not hypocritical from its perspective — that it’s actually a form of doing God’s work.

Berns: Talk about the relationship between members of The Family — they are men, not women — and the role they play as a larger group.

Sharlet: The Family began with this idea that God does not work through churches but rather through those whom The Family calls the “New Chosen.” They believe they’re chosen by God. They can’t be expected to pray with the rest of us. They need to pray in private with people of equal status.

Read the rest of this scary article at the link above.
As someone stated: this is straight out of a Dan Brown novel – but, it’s real.

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